In the sport of baseball, a primary concern of players, parents and coaches is to avoid injuries that can result when a player is struck by an errant pitch, hit or throw. The hardness of regulation baseballs and the exceedingly high ball speeds achieved in both professional and amateur play pose a substantial threat of serious injury in cases where a player is struck in a vulnerable area, particularly the head. To reduce the risk of head injuries in general, most baseball leagues and institutions recommend or require the use of an impact resistant helmet, at least during batting activities. In addition, a face guard is generally employed which attaches to the batting helmet and provides an impact resistant shield to protect against facial, dental and eye injuries.
A large variety of face guards have been developed during the long history of baseball. The design of these face guards generally includes a stiff guard member that rigidly attaches to a batting helmet and serves to deflect hit or thrown balls from the face of the wearer. Representative prior art patents describing such masks include U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,196,45, 2,616,81 and 1,488,812. Such face guards can be made from a variety of possible materials, including plastics, nylon, steel, cast aluminum and other rigid, impact resistant materials. In one design, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,633,531 and manufactured by Schutt (Litchfield, Ill.), a grid-like arrangement of sturdy metal segments is welded to form a unitary mask. The mask is generally concave and mounts to the helmet at the front of the ear flags and along the front of the helmet brim. In another design, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,886,596, the face guard is comprised of a clear shield of high impact plastic which wraps around the lower portion of the face and connects to the ear flags.
Despite the widespread development and use of protective face guards in the sport of baseball, the practice of wearing face guards has only recently begun to catch hold in the distinct sport of softball. To date it has been widely perceived that the risk of facial injury from ball impacts in softball is minimal, in view of the lower durometer, or hardness, of softballs compared to regulation baseballs, and based on the comparatively low pitch speeds achieved in softball. However, these perceptions are largely misguided, because the hardness of softballs often approaches that of regulation baseballs, and the increased weight of softballs over hardballs can create substantial impact forces. Moreover, the growing sport of fast pitch softball has become increasingly more refined and competitive, and the speeds of pitched and hit balls on the softball field have become nearly as formidable as those on the baseball field. To illustrate this point, the record speed in women's fast pitch softball, currently held by Michelle Smith of the U.S. Olympic Team, tops 70 mph. At such speeds, and considering the heavy mass of softballs, the need for protective face gear can no longer be taken lightly.
The need for facial protective head and face gear in softball has recently been underscored by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, which released a 1996 report detailing baseball and softball related injuries in children. The CPSC report indicates that ball impacts to the head accounted for 21 deaths of children between 1973 and 1995. In addition, there were 47,900 children treated for ball impact injuries to the head and neck, 35,200 of whom sustained facial injuries. These injuries were largely avoidable, and the CPSC found that helmets equipped with face guards should prevent, reduce or lessen the severity of about 3,900 facial injuries occurring to batters in organized play each year.
Because of the growing concern over facial injuries in softball, and due in part to the fact that softball has experienced recent growth and widespread institutionalization, it is now more common to see players, especially children in organized leagues, wearing protective face gear. The inventor of the present invention has been on the cutting edge of this development through his operation of summer softball camps for children and young adults. As is true of other top level training institutions, the inventor's camps place extreme emphasis on player safety. As part of this safety emphasis, all players are advised to wear a protective face mask at bat and during other high risk periods of play.
The selection of protective face guards for softball players has been limited to available face guards designed for baseball, described above. Baseball face guards have been accepted for use by softball players, and are generally considered to satisfy the critical safety concerns at issue. Namely, baseball safeguards adequately exclude errant softballs from striking the eyes, nose, cheeks or teeth of players. However, baseball face guards suffer a number of drawbacks when used for softball activities. Among these drawbacks, the inventor has observed during the course of recent softball training exercises that players who wear baseball face guards exhibit frequent head movements, characterized by repeated lowering and raising of the chin, during the course of batting activities. Such frequent head adjustments are undesirable, and generally interfere with the development of consistent batting posture and swing. After extensive observations and student interviews, the inventor determined that conventional baseball face guards unduly obstruct the vision of softball players, because the configuration of wire grid elements on baseball face guards partially interferes with a player's line of sight to visually track the ball after it is released by the pitcher. In softball, a player's line of sight to the pitcher's ball release position is downward, because the ball is released from a level mound near the pitcher's thigh and generally approaches the batter along an upward path. In baseball the opposite is true. The player's line of sight to the ball release position is upward, because the ball is typically released from about the level of the pitcher's head from an elevated mound and approaches the batter along an downward path.
In addition to imposing visual obstruction, baseball face guards are also poorly adapted for softball because the size and placement of grid elements are not specifically developed in light of the distinct ball size, pitched ball travel path and other unique attributes of the sport of softball.
In view of the above, a need exists in the art for a face guard that provides reliable protection against facial injuries from errant softball impacts, but which imposes minimal interference with visibility during softball play. Such a face guard will desirably incorporate structural concepts developed based on the distinct ball size, pitched ball travel path and other unique attributes of the sport of softball. The face guard should provide a complete structural barrier to softball penetration surrounding a player's face, but be light weight and strategically reinforced to minimize visual obstruction and reduce material and manufacturing costs. Likewise, the face guard should be constructed of strong material that resists distortion under heavy impact, but which is inexpensive and convenient to use in manufacturing the face guard. In addition, the face guard should be readily and securely attachable to a standard baseball helmet in such a manner to reduce the risk of breakage at attachment points, and to allow for quick removal of the face guard in the event of medical injury.